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Public Welfare Service 


Bulletin No. 2 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
(Sixth Edition ) 
1926 OCT 19 1323 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





How It Is Made and How Distributed 


For Use of School Students, English and 
Current Topics Classes and Debating Clubs 


Issued by 
ILLINOIS COMMITTEE on PUBLIC UTILITY INFORMATION 
79 West Monroe Street - - - ~ Chicago, Illinois 


( Additional copies will be furnished on request) 





ELECTRICITY—THE GIANT ENERGY 


Introducto ry: 


Electricity has been called the giant energy. With- 
in the memory of men now living it has revolution- 
ized the world. It has made possible, within half a 
century, greater progress than in all the 500,000 years 
of history which preceded it and which science gives 
to the career of man on earth. 


Man has learned to harness, distribute and utilize 
this magic power for day and night service through- 
out the civilized world. It is banishing darkness, has 
lightened the burden of the housewife and has 
become the silent partner of industry. 


The story of the development of the use of elec- 
tricity is a fascinating recital. It is a story of prog- 
ress. Electricity has brought about a revolution in 
industry, for it has enabled one man to do the work 
of many men, and made possible huge production in 
our factories, rapid transportation and better living 
conditions in our homes. It has built our great cities 
and industrial centers. It has torn away the barriers 
of time and distance and made all men neighbors. 
Through radio it has brought entertainment and 
knowledge to millions. 


Your “Thirty Slaves:” 


The Smithsonian Institution has figured that if all 
our machinery operated by electrical and steam 
power should be taken away, it would require the 
services of 30 times as many hardworking slaves as 
we have population to duplicate the work done in 
America. In other words, the use of power and 
machinery gives to every man, woman and child in 
our country the equivalent of 30 slaves, or the average 
family of five has 150 “‘slaves”’ working for it. 


But instead of this army of slaves we have elec- 
tricity working for us at a “‘wage”’ so small as to 
bring its services within reach of the poorest man’s 
pocketbook; a sum so small that it would not pay for 
what a servant would eat. 


Push a button and our home is illuminated as by 
the midday sun; an electric vacuum cleaner banishes 
dirt and dust; an electric washing machine and 
electric iron help with the housework; a fan gives 
cooling breezes or an electric heater radiates warmth; 
an electric range cooks the family meal; an electric 
refrigerator makes ice; or the many other familiar 
labor-saving appliances are placed in action. 


Today, electricity rings the door bell; tows a ship 
through the Panama Canal; lifts a great bridge; milks 
the cows; chops feed on the farm; increases produc- 
tion in factories by providing good lighting and ample 
power; lights homes and stores; even provides illu- 
mination for surgical operations in hospitals. It is 
ready to perform these tasks 24 hours of each day. 


Yet it was only a short time ago—less than 50 
years—that the richest kings had none of the 


commonplace conveniences which make life easier 
and better for even the poorest Americans at the 
present time. 


This change is due to the tremendous efforts of the 
nation’s electric utilities. 


The Great Minds of Electricity: 


Many great minds have contributed to the de- 
velopment of the present-day electric central-station 
systems which provide our electricity. If only one 
name were to be mentioned, it would undoubtedly 
be that of Thomas A. Edison. But before Edison, 
with his marvelous inventions, and contemporary 
with him, a host of other electrical scientists and 
inventors have contributed their part. 


Such men as Dr. William Gilbert, Benjamin 
Franklin, Luigi Galvani, Alesandro Volta, Sir 
Humphrey Davy, H. C. Oersted, A. M. Ampere, 
G. S$. Ohm, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday, 
Joseph Henry, Z. T. Gramme, J. C. Maxwell, A. 
Pacinotti, S. Z. deFerranti, Werner von Siemens, 
Lord Kelvin and many others did very important 
work. Since Edison’s discoveries other scientists, 
among them the late Dr. Charles A. Steinmetz, have 
added achievements of great value. 


Early Inventio ns: 


Although the electric light and power business, as 
we know it today, is a development of comparatively 
recent origin, the foundations for it were laid by early 
experimenters in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth 
centuries. Back in 1600, Dr. Gilbert, an English 
physician, conducted numerous experiments and 
made many important discoveries, but it was nearly 
a century and a half later before any great progress 
was made by others who studied the subject. 


Benjamin Franklin’s demonstration by his famous 
kite experiment in 1752, proving that lightning is an 
electrical phenomenon, is well known. About 1790 
Galvani discovered a current of electricity. Up to that 
time electricity had been developed only by friction. 
Volta developed the electric battery in 1800. Oersted 
of Copenhagen discovered in 1820 the magnetic effect 
of electric current. This paved the way for the later 
developments of electrical machinery. Michael Fara- 
day of England discovered in 1831 the basic prin- 
ciples on which dynamo electric machines are de- 
signed. Many other scientists and inventors made 
important discoveries during the early part of the 
Nineteenth century. 


The telegraph was the first great electrical inven- 
tion. It was invented by Morse in 1837. Electro- 
plating was perfected about the same time. The 
electric motor was developed about 1873. Radio is a 
development of the present generation. 


The First Central Station: 


Development of the electrical industry, |however, 
really dates from Sept. 4, 1882, the day on which 
there was opened in New York City the first central 
electricity generating station in the world. This plant, 
known as the Pearl Street station, furnished elec- 
tricity for lighting in a small territory in downtown 
Manhattan. 


Three years before this, on October 21, 1879, 
Edison had invented the electric light, but until the 
opening of the Pearl Street station, the light had been 
looked upon as an impractical curiosity. When the 
Pearl Street station was placed in operation a new 
epoch in electricity was started, for this first central 
station utilized the same basic principles that are 
used today by all electric light and power companies. 


This station—started a little more than four 
decades ago—served 59 customers. From this begin- 
ning the electric industry has grown until at the 
present time there are 17,937,160 customers, of 
whom 14,532,930 take residential lighting service. 
The number of customers of electric light and power 
companies in the United States doubled in the six 
years between 1909 and 1915, and doubled again in 
the following six years. At the present time the 
increase is almost 2,000,000 customers per year. 


The Pearl Street station had six generators with a 
total generating capacity of 559.5 kilowatts. The 
generating capacity of all plants in the United States 
at the beginning of 1926 was 26,830,000 kilowatts or 
35,952,200 horse-power. 


The output of electricity in 1925 set a new high 
record, the total being 65,801,000,000 kilowatt-hours. 
The Commonwealth Edison Company, which serves 
Chicago, in 1925 had an output of 3,091,424,000 kilo- 
watt-hours, the largest production of any steam cen- 
tral station company in the world. An illustration of 
the rapid development of the electrical industry is 
shown by the fact that the Commonwealth Edison 
Company had a generating capacity of only about 
640 kilowatts in 1888. In 1925 it was 886,000 kilo- 
watts. 

Today the electric light and power industry repre- 
sents an investment of approximately $7,500,000,000 
and about $800,000,000 is spent annually for new 
plants and extensions to meet the ever-increasing 
demands for service. The gross revenue of the electric 
light and power companies of the country in 1925 was 


$1,475,000,000. The industry is owned by over 2,500,- 
000 men and women investors, banks, insurance com- 
panies and others, whose money provides funds for 
building the great systems whose services are avail- 
able to all of the people. 


Where Electricity Comes From: 


Electric light and power service starts at the cen- 
tral generating plant—called the “‘central station”— 
where electric energy is produced in large quanti- 
ties. From these central stations wires carry the 
energy to the homes, stores and factories of the na- 
tion—to provide illumination, to turn the wheels of 
the machines in factories, to operate electric railway 
cars and to help the housekeeper by supplying energy 
for her vacuum cleaner, toaster, flat iron, washing 
machine and other appliances. 


Electricity is produced most economically in cen- 
tral stations where large generators are used, and 
it is transmitted and distributed at much less ex- 
pense if all of the electrical needs of one large com- 
munity, or several small communities, are supplied 
from one common system of wires. Therefore, the 
modern tendency is to replace small generating 
stations with substations, which are distributing 
stations for the large systems. This gives the 
benefit of the economies of the large stations to small 
communities. 


There are two kinds of electricity made and 
distributed by a central station—‘‘direct”? and 
“alternating.”’ Direct, or continuous current, flows 
constantly in one direction. This kind of current, 
because it cannot be sent any great distance, is used 
largely in the congested centers of populous cities. 
Alternating current flows first in one direction, then 
reverses, but so fast that the changes cannot be de- 
tected in an electric light by the naked eye, except 
in low cycles, in which it is visible. This has resulted 
in adoption of a general standard of 60 cycles for 
lighting. Alternating current can be sent, econom- 
ically, hundreds of miles, and, therefore, is now 
used almost universally. 


How Electricity Is Made Available: 


Electricity is produced from some form of heat 
energy, as that obtained by the combustion of 
coal, oil, gas or wood; from some form of mechanical 
energy like that of falling water or (to a slight ex- 


Statistical Data Showing Development of Electric Light and Power Industry 
in the United States During the Last 24 Years 











1902 1912 1920 1922 1923 1924 1925 

Capital Invested....| $504,740,352 | $2,175,678,266 | $3,688,597,000 | 45,100,000,000 | $5,800,000,000 | $6,600,000,000 | $7,500,000,000 
Gross Revenue...... 78,735,500 302,273,398 932,000,000 | 1,084,000,000 | 1,300,000,000} 1,350,100,000} 1,475,000,000 
Capacity in Kilo- 

atts aie te ee ne 1,212,200 5,165,439 13,000,000 17,725,484 18,558,800 18,840,000 26,830,000 
No. of Customers E 

telotal lec ss tet oi: 1,465,060 3,837,518 9,597,997 12,353,790 13,710,000 16,377,605 17,937,160 

Residence........ 7,465,900 9,903,830 11,030,000 13,252,985 14,532,930 

Commercial..... 1,744,500 1,988,020 2,205,000 2,524,705 2,781,280 

Powers. @t.5 tee. 387,597 461,940 475,000 599,915 622,950 


Total Generation in 
Kilowatt-hours.... 


2,507,051,515| 11,569,109,885| 40,288,264,000] 44,084,575,000] 51,498,450,000| 59,013,590,000] 65,801,000,000 


tent) wind power, or from chemical energy, as in 
batteries. In the case of water-power plants the 
momentum of the falling water is used to revolve 
waterwheels which in turn operate electric. genera- 
tors. The water may be small in volume but 
have a great pressure because of a high fall, 
or it may have low pressure and much volume, or 
have any combination of these qualities. 

The most desirable class of streams for water 
power developments are those having a fairly con- 
stant flow throughout the year. This covers a compar- 
atively small number of streams. Next in desirability 
are those having a large portion of the maximum 
water flow available during most of the year. 


Utilization of these streams is expensive as water- 
storage facilities are necessary to keep water avail- 
able throughout the entire year. 


Then there are ‘‘flashy” streams—erratic and 
experiencing sudden and short flood periods with 
intervening periods of little or no water. They 
are uneconomical for development. This class in- 
cludes many Middle Western streams. 


Water power development also may be uneco- 
nomical if the proposed site is so far from the power 
market as to make necessary an extremely expensive 
transmission line, or because of large power losses 
through transmission over a great distance. Because 
most of the streams in Illinois are in the “flashy” 
class very little water power has been developed 
in this state, less than 4 per cent of the electricity 
being produced in this manner. 


Sometimes electric generating plants are built 
right at the coal mine in Illinois and other states. 
This is seldom practical, however, as efficient 
operation of turbines requires from 500 to 700 
tons of water for every ton of coal burned to chill 
the condenser tubes and to condense steam after it 
has done its work in the turbines. 

In New’ York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, 
and ‘other ‘large cities, more water is pumped for 
condensing purposes in electric generating stations 
than the city water-works pump for all other pur- 
poses. This need of an abundance of water is an 
outstanding reason why more generating plants 
cannot be built at the mouths of coal mines, where 
there is seldom a large supply of water. 


At the central station the coal is handled by 
mechanical conveyors and crushers, themselves oper- 
ated by electricity, and is delivered to the automatic 
stokers of the furnaces without being touched by 
human hands. The other raw material required— 
if brains, labor and capital are not raw materials— 
is ‘water. This is delivered to the boilers, where 
the heat of the burning coal converts it into steam. 
The steam is piped to the turbines where the impact 
of its expansive force and its momentum rotate the 
shafts of the electric generators. 


The Turbine: 


The principle of the steam turbine is very simple. 
It is practically the same as the water turbine, and 
the water turbine is only an elaborated water wheel. 
The latter receives its power from water pressure 
of rivers or reservoirs of water so stored that when 


the water flows it strikes the blades of the wheel 
rotating it and producing power, because of the 
pressure back of it. In like manner steam generated 
in central station boilers by coal is directed against 
the blades of a steam turbine which rotates from this 
impact, perhaps 1,800 times a minute, and produces 
power. These turbines—‘“electric machines” or 
generators, as we now call them—are attached 
directly to the shaft without the use of belts. 


The energy we have so far pictured as being 
created in a central generating station is mechan- 
ical and not electrical energy, but right here, in 
the generator, the transformation takes place. 
The power that goes into the turbine as mechan- 
ical energy is taken from the generator at the other 
end of the shaft as electrical energy. 

In spite of the enormous power produced by a 
modern generator, the principle of its work is based 
on simple laws. Early experiments by the famous 
Faraday (born in England, 1791) marked the be- 
ginning of the electric generator, and the same laws 
that Faraday worked out are applied to the making 
of the huge generators of today. Nothing of impor- 
tance has been added except elaboration of machin- 
ery. Faraday used a coil of wire and a magnet. Each 
time the magnet was thrust into the coil its mag- 
netism was found to cause a flow of electricity in 
the coil, as indicated by a compass placed near the 
coil of wire. The same phenomenon takes place 
when a generator rotates. It contains magnets and 
coils of wires, which are, of course, much stronger 
than those used by Faraday. As long as the magnet 
rotates inside of the coil, electricity is generated. 
Nowadays the turbine and the generator are so 
closely related that they are made by manufac- 
turers in one complete unit known as a “turbo- 
generator.” 

The electricity which comes from the generators is 
so powerful that it must be controlled very carefully. 
This is accomplished by means of copper switching 
devices. Copper is used because it is one of the 
best conductors of electricity, and relatively cheap. 
Alternating current is often raised to high voltages, 
because at high pressure it can be economically 
transmitted long distances by comparatively small 
copper wires, and its voltage can be changed by 
transformers. Direct current is not adaptable for 
this long-distance, high-voltage transmission, and 
its voltage cannot be changed by transformers. 


The Transfo rmer: 


Although high voltages are necessary for trans- 
mission lines, electricity is generated and is used 
for lighting and power purposes at low voltages. 

Transformers are used, therefore, to “step” the 
voltage up as the current comes from the generator 
and to “step” it down when it leaves the trans- 
mission line. Sometimes huge transformers are 
used in “sub-stations”’ from which energy is distrib- 
uted to large sections of a city or to small towns. 
The transformers, which are a familiar sight on 
poles in streets or alleys, finally reduce the pressure 
to a safe point for domestic use and send it into the 
dozen or more houses in the midst of which the 
transformer is located. 


The Basic Laws of Electrical Energy: 


F Something very interesting takes place within 
the transformer and if our eyes could see electricity 
we should see a remarkable phenomenon going on 
all the time in each one of these little iron boxes. 
We have already noted above, in connection with 
the generator, that when a piece of magnetized iron 
was moved through a coil of wire electricity was pro- 
duced. Early experimenters found another truth 
which naturally followed: viz., that when electricity 
flowed through a coil of wire around a piece of iron 
magnetism was produced in the iron. These two 
principles taken together illustrate how a transfor- 
mer works. Suppose we think of electrical energy 
as it travels from the power station along trans- 
mission lines into the transformer box. There it 
runs into a coil of wire which surrounds a piece of 
iron. The electricity in the coil magnetizes the iron 
and the magnetized iron in its turn produces elec- 
tricity in another coil, which is around the magnet 
but entirely separate from the first coil. The pres- 
sure in the coils is proportionate to the turns of 
wire. The more wires in either of these two coils 
the more pressure we have; therefore, if one coil has 
ten times as many wires as the other, or “secondary” 
coil, the pressure at the other, or “secondary,” side 
of the transformer will be reduced to one-tenth of 
what it was when it entered it. 


From the other side of the transformer elec- 
tricity is led at low pressure into the house or 
factory through a service switch where it can be 
turned on or off, and then through a meter, which 
measures the current. After that it is available 
for toasters, irons and the dozens of other household 
uses. In the case of the large neighborhood sub- 
stations power taken from the secondary side of the 
large transformers is often used to operate street 
railways or street lighting circuits. 


How Electricity Has Revolutionized 
Industry: 


Electricity has made America machineland. There 
are not less than 3,000 uses for electricity. Most of 
them are in industry, but the use of electricity for 
power, as well as for lighting and heating in the 
home, is growing steadily. 

Although the use of electrical energy for driving 
motors is its most common employment in industry, 
aside from illumination, it is being used more and 
more for generating heat and bringing about chemical 
reactions in many manufacturing processes. 


In the latter field electricity has a wide use in 
electro-chemistry, a department of industrial en- 
deavor with which most people are not familiar. 
In electro-chemistry, electricity is used to break 
down, build up, cover, uncover, separate and blend. 
Some remarkable accomplishments result. 


These are probably better understood by refer- 
ence to the experiment conducted in school lab- 
oratories of reducing water to its component parts, 
hydrogen and oxygen, by passing an electric current 
through it. That is an example of breaking down. 
Electro-plating is an example of the building up 


process. In electro-plating, copper plates are im- 
mersed in a solution of silver nitrate and by passing 
current through the solution, silver is deposited on 
one of the plates. 


There are many other reactions brought about 
by electricity on a large scale which are the bases 
of the electro-chemistry industry. Eighty per cent 
of the copper produced in the United States is 
separated from ore by electricity. Gold and silver 
are separated from the ore in the same way. Alumi- 
num, nickel and silver are “‘recovered” from ore and 
waste. Almost all gold plated jewelry is gilded by 
electrolysis. 


Use of electricity for smelting ore is a compar- 
atively recent development. Making of “‘electric 
steel” is a fast-growing industry. 


By using electricity, vanadium and chrome— 
new kinds of steel—were produced. These are 
used for automobile and airplane parts and for 
castings where a perfect texture is necessary. Elec- 
tric steel is also utilized in making tools such as 
drilling bits which must stand hard usage. 


Electricity as a Producer of Heat: 


Electric heat is being applied to iron, nickel, 
copper, silver, brass and bronze and other non- 
ferrous metals. Electric furnaces produce such 
electro-chemical “‘mysteries” as ferro manganese, 
silicon, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium and 
titanium, abrasive materials such as carborundum, 
alaxite and magnesite. 


During recent years electricity has been used for 
operating electric ranges to a very great extent in 
those communities which do not have gas available. 
Through perfecting of this appliance the housewife 
in the smaller community is able to cook as efficiently, 
cleanly and with the same degree of comfort as is 
possible in the larger cities. In Illinois there are 
more than 6,000 electric ranges in use at the present 
time. 


Electricity is being used extensively in coal min- 
ing. In Illinois, alone, hundreds of mines purchase 
all or part of their power from central stations. 
Formerly, when coal mine operators generated their 
own electricity, 20 pounds of coal were burned to 
produce one kilowatt-hour. As modern central 
stations produce this same energy with only 2 pounds 
of coal, a great conservation of fuel has taken place 
and the cost of power used in mining coal has bee 
lowered. 


Future Development of 
Railroad Electrification: 


One of the great developments of the future will 
be the more general electrification of steam railroads, 
as the experimental stage of this use of electricity 
seems to be passed. In several cities in the United 
States the railroad terminals have been electrified, 
and through Montana, Idaho and Washington one 
large steam railroad has electrified its tracks for 
600 miles over mountains. Four-thousand-ton trains 
go up and down steep mountain grades under per- 
fect control at speeds never attained under steam 


operation, and with a regularity that leaves no doubt 
as to the practicability of electrification. All railroads 
leading into New York City are electrified within 
the city limits. 

In Illinois, the Illinois Central Railroad has elec- 
trified its tracks used for suburban service, and is 
working on a general electrification program for its 
entire terminal facilities. When first placed in opera- 
tion the electrification comprised from two to six 
parallel tracks extending thirty-five miles from the 
Randolph street terminal, and, with two electrified 
branch lines, made a total of 125 track miles. When 
completed, there will be as many as fifteen parallel 
tracks electrified, and in all there will be about 400 
miles of track equipped for electric trains. 


Power Obtained from 


Central Stations: 


When the Illinois Central Railroad’s management 
planned for electrification of its Chicago terminal, it 
had expert engineers investigate a supply of power 
for the project. They reported that power could not 
only be purchased cheaper from electric light and pow- 
er companies than it could be generated by the rail- 
road, but that a purchased supply was much more 
reliable. Seven sub-stations, provided by the central 
station companies serving Chicago and vicinity, 
supply the railroad with power for the operation of 
its trains, for its signals, and for its repair shops. 


Has Many Advantages 


Over Steam: 


Some of the advantages to the public of electrified 
steam railroad suburban service are greater comfort, 
speed and frequency of service; extension of subur- 
ban residence districts, thus making availablea greater 
number of attractive home-sites; increase in value 
of real estate; beautifying of residential and shop- 
ping districts; advertising value to the city as a whole; 
elimination of the smoke nuisance; lessening of noise 
nuisance; making possible sub-surface operation of 
trains, which opens a way for through streets and 
lessens traffic congestion; and aiding the growth of 
small suburban towns by making them more a part 
of the big city. 

Engineers say that if all steam railroads were elec- 
trified and energy furnished by coal-burning genera- 
ting stations, 136,000,000 tons of coal would be saved 
each year. If hydro-electric generating stations fur- 
nished one-third of the electricity, 162,000,000 tons 
of coal would be conserved each year. 


Farm Electrification: 


Electric light and power companies are devoting 
much time and effort to the electrification of farms 
in the belief that electricity will increase the pro- 
ductivity and the earnings of farm workers and make 
their life more pleasant, as it has done these things 
for residents of towns and cities. 


The use of electrically-operated labor-saving ma- 
chinery has made the American worker the best paid 
worker in the world. The American farmers use more 
machinery and produce more per capita than do 


farmers in any other country. The tendency is to- 
wards the use of mechanical and electric power in 
place of man-power and animal-power. 


The value of electricity on the farm is determined 
by both its economic advantage and its betterment 
of living conditions. From an economic standpoint, 
its value is measured by the labor displaced, in- 
creased production, and reduced cost of operating 
the farm. Its other value is that it makes farm life 
more pleasant, keeps the boys and girls from leaving 
for towns and cities, and gives to the farmer a pride 
and satisfaction that cannot be measured. Also, it 
opens up profitable lines of farming, which many 
farmers avoided because of the large amount of labor 
involved. Dairy farming is one of these farm activ- 
ities which is made easier by electricity. Milking 
can be done electrically, the separator can be opera- 
ted by an electric motor, and the milk and cream 
kept fresh and sweet in an electric refrigerator. 


Farm Electrification 
Experiments in Illinois: 


On ten farms near Tolono, Illinois, where there is 
a large diversity of operations and products, the Uni- 
versity of Illinois is conducting experiments in rural 
electrification. Electric light and power companies of 
the state, farmers’ organizations, and manufacturers 
of farm machinery and electric appliances are cooper- 
ating with the school. Accurate records of the cost of 
electricity used and the value of the products are 
kept. Electricity is being used in dairying, poultry 
raising, stock farming, grain farming, seed produc- 
tion and general farming. It is believed that these 
experiments will bring about a more general use of 
electricity on Illinois farms. 


Among the uses which have been found for elec- 
tricity on farms are: grain elevating, ensilage cutting, 
feed grinding, grain cleaning, grain threshing, hoist- 
ing hay, milking, mixing concrete, pumping water, 
refrigeration, sawing, sawing wood, cream separa- 
ting, auxiliary heating, brooding chicks, incubating 
chicks, cooking, ironing, water heating, barn venti- 
lation, corn shredding, corn shelling, timber utili- 
zation, dish washing, and lighting of houses, barns, 
poultry houses and out-buildings. 





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TEP-OOWN TRANSFORMER 


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SUB-STATION 
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Already many farms have electricity delivered 
to them by the central station plants and it is to 
be expected that within a short time the rural dis- 
tricts will have the same efficient and modern service 
as is possible in the thickly populated cities. As 
farmers develop more uses for electricity, the ex- 
tension of service will be more rapid. 


What an Electrical Map of the 
U.S.A. Would Look Like: 


If one could see, upon a map of the United States, 
outlines of systems for generating, transmitting and 
distributing electricity the impression would be 
something like that of seeing a number of inter- 
connected spider-webs, each large generating station 
being the center of its own web. Each system may 
have several generating stations, the whole network 
being tied together in such a way that the break- 
down of a machine in one generating station or the 
failure of a substation would not, usually, mean loss 
of service to the customer, other sources of supply 
being available in emergency. 

The same plants that serve the cities now fur- 
nish service to the smaller communities and to the 
farms. They are no longer local distributors, but 
reach out as far as their wires are strung. One 
company, alone, may serve hundreds of communi- 
ties from its central station energy-producing 
plants. That is why the rendering of service is now 
regulated by the state. It has outgrown its original 
city boundaries. 


The Illinois Superpower System: 


The first electric generating stations and distri- 
bution systems were constructed in large cities, 
such as Chicago and New York, about 40 years ago. 

At first many small stations were constructed 
in the same city to serve very restricted areas which 
did not exceed two miles square. The art of generating 
and distributing electric energy advanced rapidly so 
that about 15 years after the completion of the first 
plants we find that in the large cities many of these 
small plants were superseded by large generating 
stations which supplied the entire community. 


About 25 years ago small central stations were built 





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also in communities of 5,000 population and larger. 
Residents of smaller communities and farmers did not 
have electric service, for developments in the electric 
art did not permit their having service without in- 
curring a financial loss to the electric companies. 
Therefore, a large portion of the people in the 
United States did not have electricity available. 


Early Systems Small: 


The early systems in most small and medium- 
sized towns did not operate 24 hours per day but 
only at night from dusk to dawn, as practically 
the entire business supplied in those days consisted 
of lighting. 

About 25 years ago the electric motor was coming 
into general use. Where the demand for electricity 
for motors was large, the central stations found it 
profitable to supply electricity the entire 24 hours 
of the day. However, in many small communities 
there were not enough motors used to pay the ex- 
penses of electric service during the day-light hours. 


The generating stations of 15 to 20 years ago in 
small and medium-sized communities were expensive 
to operate and the rates charged for electricity were 
high compared to rates of the present time. Many 
stations charged 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, which 
seems ridiculous today—although this rate is still 
charged in some towns in Illinois where modern 
equipment is not used. 


About this time rapid strides were made in the 
development of the steam turbine. It was found 
that the turbine could be made in large sizes having 
greater generating capacity than was possible in 
the old-style reciprocating engine. Also, it was 
found that the turbine generated a kilowatt-hour 
of electricity with less coal. 


Transmission Line Systems: 


This economy in operation made it plain that the 
way to best serve the small community was by 
generating electricity in large, economical central 
stations, and carrying it to the small town over 
high-voltage transmission lines. As this was ac- 
complished the small communities and many farms 
received the same electric service as was heretofore 
had only in large cities. They had 24-hour service 
and rates which were much lower than when the 
small, isolated station supplied their power. 


In this manner thousands of communities having 
dusk-to-dawn service were supplied electricity 
throughout the entire day, and additional thousands 
of villages and small towns which were too small 
to support their own generating station were given 
service for the first time. 

In no section of our country has this great devel- 
opment been more marked than in Illinois. Before 
the days when transmission lines were built, electric 
service was available to only about 200 communities, 
and in the majority of cases only for part of the 
24 hours. 


Illinois Stands High: 


At the present time, after a ten-year period of 
continuous construction of transmission lines 


throughout the state by many public service com- 
panies, electric service is being rendered to more than 
1,200 organized communities, 82 per cent of which 
are served by transmission lines and are receiving 
24-hour service. Many of the smaller communities, 
which are served by isolated generating stations, 
still have electricity available only part of the day. 


There are about 7,100 miles of high-voltage trans- 
mission lines in Illinois. The predominating volt- 
age of these lines is 33,000, although some are as high 
as 132,000. Branching off from these great energy 
lines are thousands of miles of lateral wires which 
bring the electricity to the user. 


On January 1, 1926, there was installed and in 
operation in central stations of the state 1,511,897 
kilowatts or 2,025,941 horsepower of generating 
capacity. 

Each customer of the central stations in IIli- 
nois uses, on an average, 3,292 kilowatt-hours of 
electricity annually. 


Illinois ranks second among the states in the 
number of electric customers served by central 
stations. It had, on January 1, 1926, 1,582,550 
customers, of which 91,073 were added during 
1925. The state ranks high, also, in the degree 
of saturation of lighting customers, 73.2 per cent 
of the homes being wired for electricity. 


Although Illinois has but 6.1 per cent of the 
population of the United States it has 9 per cent 
of the electric customers. 


Superpower in the Middle West: 


Superpower, or the inter-connection of large 
generating stations by high-voltage transmission 
lines, is not a development of Illinois alone. It 
is a development of areas whose boundaries are 
fixed by geographical barriers or economic con- 
ditions and not by state lines. 


Illinois’ great generating stations and trans- 
mission lines are part of a vast superpower system 
extending from the Dakotas to West Virginia, and 
including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Thou- 
sands of communities in these states are linked 
together. 


This continuous, rapid hooking up of smaller 
systems gives rise to the belief that formation of 
one great superpower system extending from the 
Atlantic ocean to the Rocky Mountains is not 
far distant. 


Big Benefits Obtained: 


Illustrative of the economy of large generating 
stations is the saving of fuel. Small, isolated 
generating stations burn about 15 pounds of coal 
to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity. The 
large stations, such as are a part of the superpower 
system, consume, on an average, only 2 pounds of 
coal per kilowatt-hour. This is important when it 
is considered that 96 per cent of the electricity 
generated in Illinois is made from coal, practically 
all of which is mined within the state. 

The benefits of this great gain in efficiency have 
been given to the customers in the form of lower 
rates than those originally charged by the smaller 


plants, 24-hour service to all communities served 
and adequate power supplies for industries at reason- 
able rates. Notwithstanding the fact that coal today 
costs 95 per cent more per ton than in pre-war times, 
the average rates now charged are very much less 
than the average rates ten years ago in these same 
communities. If such systems had not been con- 
structed, the average rates now prevailing would be 
at least 50 to 80 per cent higher in order to pay the 
cost of operating the smaller, inefficient stations. 


Inter-connection Assures 
Continuous Service: 


Another advantage of superpower is that it in- 
sures a continuous electricity supply to communi- 
ties, even in an emergency. 


Should a tornado, earthquake, fire or other ca- 
tastrophy put out of service the generating station 
of a community which is a part of a superpower 
system, other communities in the system, even 
though many miles away, could each furnish the 
stricken town some electricity and the aggregate 
power thus furnished would enable the place so 
disabled to “carry on”. This has been done 
many times. 

The importance of this protection is realized 
when it is considered that in many towns water 
for fire protection and sanitation is pumped by 
electricity. 


Also, a sudden, large demand for electricity, 
such as for irrigation pumps during a severe drought, 
can be met by superpower. 


After most of the existing transmission systems 
in Illinois have been inter-connected, and the loads 
served by these systems continue to increase to 
much larger amounts, there will undoubtedly be 
constructed new, large-capacity, high-voltage trunk 
lines, or true superpower lines, which will serve as 
feeder lines to the existing transmission systems at 
a large number of intersecting points. Such super- 
power lines will receive their supply of energy from 
very large central stations of the most efficient 
type, and the development of such a system will en- 
able the more inefficient stations still operating to 
be discontinued gradually. The existing trans- 
mission lines will then occupy the relative position 
of primary distribution lines, with the new trunk 
lines serving as the transmission source. Such a 
development will not render useless any of the sys- 
tems now in service, but on the contrary serve 
to increase their usefulness and thus enable in- 
creased supply to all of the communities served to 
keep up with the growth of these communities. 


Electricity Cannot be Stored: 


One characteristic of electrical power which has 
an interesting bearing on central station enter- 
prises is that it cannot be stored. This is not 
literally true, because you are familiar with dry 
batteries and the larger storage batteries, but for 
general power purposes in the large cities batteries 
are not practical, except as an emergency reserve. 


‘ The result is that when a customer of a central sta- 
tion company makes a “‘demand”’ upon the company 


ILLINOIS 
INTER- 
CONNECTED 
ELECTRICITY 
SYSTEMS 


This map shows the location 

of the high tension electric 
transmission lines, rangin 

from 2,300 to 132,000 volts, 

which compose the ‘‘back- 

bone” of the great energy systems of the 
companies serving the state’s peopie. 
Radiating from these ‘‘trunk lines’”’ are 
thousands of miles of distribution lines, 
covering the state like a closely woven 
web, which carry the electricity into 
the homes, offices and factories. 











Illinois’ electric 
power supply sys- 
tems are a part of 
the great net-work 
of superpower lines 
that pool the ener- 
gy resources and 
needs of thousands 
of communities in 
an area extending 
from the Dakotas 
to West Virginia, 
and which includes 
Pennsylvania, Ohio 
and Kentucky. 


Illinois is the 
center of the 
world’s greatest 


power pool. 


for electricity by turning a switch, the company must 
be prepared to supply this demand instantaneously 
and it must likewise be prepared to supply all of 
the simultaneous demands of all of its customers. 


Unfortunately central stations cannot make up 
in advance enough electricity to supply their cus- 
tomers for a day or a week or a month, as a store 
stocks up with goods in advance of its customers’ 
demands. This very fact requires that the central 
station maintain a plant and equipment large enough 
to deliver the huge amounts of electricity for the 
dark and busy days of December, even though 
during the month of June, when the days are long, 
a much smaller plant costing very much less money 
might suffice. 

Similarly plant and equipment must be large 
enough to take care of the very heavy demands of 
the late afternoons of winter months, whereas dur- 
ing the rest of the day and night only a small frac- 
tion of that amount of electricity would be demanded. 
These highest points of “demand” are called the 
“peak load” and the central station managers 
always have to figure on investing enough money 
to take care of the ‘“‘peak load.” 


Watching the Service Demand: 


Let us go to the electric lighting company and 
see just how electricity is made to do its work. 
We walk into the office of the operating manager 
of one of these companies. One of the manager’s 
duties is to watch the traffic. He is the guardian 
over the flow of electricity. Every minute of the 
day he can tell something interesting about what 
the citizens of his community are doing. Before 
him he has a long sheet on which lines indicate the 
rise and fall in the use of the service he is furnishing. 
His fingers are on the “pulse”? every minute. The 
line which he is watching is called the “load,” 
which simply means the total amount of service 
being used at a given moment. 


We will watch him for a day. Let us say this 
particular man is manager of your local electric 
company. In the larger companies there is a 
man assigned to this work solely, and he is called 
the “‘load dispatcher.” 


It is 5 o’clock in the morning. The line is run- 
ning along straight. It is 5:30 A. M.; the line com- 
mences energetically to start upwards. Some people 
are rising and turning on the lights. It is6 A. M.; 
the line has shot far up. Many people are getting 
up, but it is still dusk, and they must have light. 
It is 7 A. M.; the line has taken an almost perpen- 
dicular upturn. Practically everyone in town is now 
up; some are using electricity to read the morn- 
ing paper, some for cooking; the street car systems 
have put on many cars hauling people to work; the 
industries have turned on electricity for operating 
the big machines. It is 8 o’clock; his line shows 
that out in the residence districts but little current 
is being used now, but in the manufacturing centers 
the load is tremendous. So he watches the cur- 
rent that started to go to the residential district 
shift to the manufacturing district. The street 
car load is much less now than it was while people 
were going to work. 


10 


It is midday. The residential district load has 
“picked up” a little. Some women are ironing, 
others using sewing machines, washing machines, 
or vacuum cleaners, still others are cooking lunch. 


Afternoon sees his line up near the top of his 
sheet and keeping steady. Most of the current is 
being used in the manufacturing plants. 


Five o’clock comes. The workers quit for the 
day. The mills, with the exception of the great 
electric furnaces in the steel mills and smelters, 
close down their machinery. But at the same time 
has come a great demand from another source. The 
people must get home. The transportation electric 
load swells. The residential districts are again de- 
manding electricity for lighting and cooking. His 
load shifts over to that side. Up until 6 P. M. it may 
sag a trifle, while the industrial load has eased, but 
then the great demand comes for the evening light- 
ing of the homes, and it picks up again. 

Then comes 9 o’clock. The children have been 
put to bed. Many lights have been turned off. 
The load sags; 10 o’clock and many grown-ups are 
going to bed and it sags more; 11 o’clock and the 
majority are in bed and the demand now is far be- 
low that of an hour before. The great engines in 
the power plant can be eased up a bit, given a little 
rest, when repairs and cleaning can be done for a 
repetition of this giving of service in the morning. 


What the electric manager saw, the gas and tele- 
phone and transportation traffic men saw similarly, 
their lines changing only to represent the happen- 
ings in their particular branches of giving service. 


Government Regulation: 


Electric light and power companies are regulated 
as are other public utilities such as gas, street rail- 
way and telephone companies. In practically every 
state in the union they are regulated by state com- 
missions created for that purpose. 


In Illinois the regulatory body is the Illinois 
Commerce Commission. Illinois has had state regu- 
lation since Jan. 1, 1914, when the Illinois Public 
Utilities commission came into existence under an 
act passed by the state legislature during the pre- 
vious year. In 1921 the legislature modified the 
law to some extent and changed the name of the 
regulatory body to the Illinois Commerce commis- 
sion. This commission exercises supervision over 
the rates and service of the utilities. The theory 
of these commissions is that they will be impartial 
judges in all controversies which might arise, so 
that no stumbling blocks may be thrown in the way 
of proper and continuous development of the various 
utility services for all of the people. 


How Investors’ Money Builds 
Public Utilities: 


In one important respect the public utility is un- 
like almost any other business in the nation. The 
electric light and power, gas, telephone, street rail- 
way and steam railroad systems have had to be 
built with money obtained continuously from in- 
vestors. Under the prevailing system of regula- 


tion they can make no “‘profits” in the sense other 
businesses do. 

They are allowed to charge only such rates as 
will permit the earning of operating expenses, 
plus a fair return on the money invested in their 
properties. Consequently all additions and ex- 
tensions must be financed by the sale of new se- 
curities to thrifty investors. 

Whereas, in ordinary businesses —dry goods 
business for example—the merchant may rea- 
sonably expect to turn over his capital (buy and 
sell a complete stock of goods) three to five times 
each year, the utility business receives from its 
customers, each year, approximately one-fifth of 
the money its property represents. 

The most common form of financing utility com- 
panies is through the issuance of bonds—whick are 
mortgages on the actual property—to the extent of 
50 to 60 per cent of the value of the property; and 
through the sale of preferred stock, on which there 
is a definite, fixed earning or dividend rate, to a 
total of about 25 per cent of the property value; 
and through sale of common stock, which is income- 
bearing only from earnings accruing after payment 
of bond interest and preferred stock dividends, to 
the value of the remainder of the property holdings. 


Elements Other than Equipment 
Back Service: 


Service of these commodities necessary to modern 
life does not begin, nor end, with the mere instal- 
lation of power plants, distributing plants, the maze 
of equipment, nor the building up of great bodies 
of employes as the operating forces. There are three 
fundamental elements back of all this: 

1. Individual brains: This is personified in the 
man who sees the possibilities of rendering service 
to a community; who devotes his time, experience 
and brains to skilfully planning that service to meet 
needs; who interests people having money in his 
“big idea,” organizes a company and gives the 
public the benefits of his initiative. 


2. The investors: Those thrifty persons who 
save part of their earnings with which they pur- 
chase stocks and bonds of the company ‘with the 
expectation that the company will succeed and earn 
them a fair return on their savings—the people whose 
money makes possible the extension of service for 
the prosperity and welfare of the community. 


3. The inventors: The geniuses who made pos- 
sible the great machines and wonderful apparatus 
that is necessary to produce service and who are 
striving constantly for improvement, they too ex- 
pecting financial reward for their labors. 


Schools Now Hold Generations That 
Must Carry on the Utilities: 


These three elements of service form an unbreakable 
chain. All three are interdependent. Should anyone of 
them become discouraged, development would im- 
mediately lag and the nation would be the loser. 


In the schools today are those who in the future 
must “carry on;” who must soon be in the harness 


kl 


working out the problems of light, heat, transpor- 
tation and communication for the nation and the 
world; problems that will be no less complex than 
those which the great pioneers have faced. The 
tremendous fight of the pioneers—those of the ‘ first 
generation,” the men with the vision—who con- 
vinced the world that such “‘absurdities” as electric 
lighting, electric power, street cars that moved by 
invisible power, (telephone wires that could carry a 
voice over unlimited spaces, gas that could actually 
be piped and made to cook, heat and operate great 
factories, were in reality possible, and through over- 
coming incredulity and actual superstition made 
possible a revolution of home, commercial and in- 
dustrial life, has not ended. Within the next ten 
years the demands of the nation for service will 
probably be double those of today as a result,of the 
more complex civilization, increase in population 
and need of more intensive and economical pro- 
duction. 


Definitions of Electrical Terms: 
AN OHM :— 


The practical unit of electrical resistance. It 
is named for G. S. Ohm, the German scientist. 

Illustration: The difficulty with which water 
flows through a pipe is determined by the size, 
shape, length and smoothness, etc., of the pipe. 
This difficulty with which current flows along a 
wire is determined by the size, length and material 
of the wire. The electrical resistance is measured 
in ohms. 


AN AMPERE :— 


A unit of measurement to determine the rate of 
flow of electric current along a wire. It is named 
after A. M. Ampere, French mathematician. 


Illustration: The rate at which water flows 
through a pipe which may be checked by opening 
any faucet and measuring what comes out is gener- 
ally measured in gallons per minute. The rate of 
flow of electric current is measured in amperes. 


A VOLT :— 


A volt represents the force required to cause a 
current of one ampere to flow when applied to a 
circuit of unit resistance. The name is derived 
from Volta, the Italian physicist. 


Illustration: The flow of electric current in a 
single circuit is just about the same thing as the 
flow of water through a pipe. The three principal 
elements are found under practically identical cir- 
cumstances, namely, pressure imposed to induce 
flow; rate of flow and resistance to flow. Pressure 
exerted to send electricity along a wire is sometimes 
known as “‘electro-motive-force’’ and is measured 
in volts. 


AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC UNIT :— 


A system of units based upon the attraction or 
repulsion between magnetic poles, employed to 
measure quantity, pressure, etc., in connection with 
electric currents. 


A WATT :— 


A watt is the unit of electrical power produced 
when one ampere of current flows with an electric 


pressure of one volt applied. A watt is equal ap- 
proximately to 1/746 of one horse-power, or one 
horse-power is equal to 746 watts. It derives its 
name from James Watt, a Scottish engineer and 
inventor. 


A KILOWATT :— 


A unit of electric power, equal to one thousand 
watts, especially applied to the output of dynamos. 
Electric power is usually expressed in kilowatts. 
As the watt is equal to 1/746 horse-power, the kilo- 
watt equals 1000/746 or 1.34 horse-power. 

Kilo is of Greek origin and means one thousand. 
A kilowatt is one thousand watts. 


A KILOWATT- HOUR :— 


A kilowatt-hour means the work performed by 
one kilowatt of electric power during an hour’s time. 


HORSE-POWER :— 


A unit of mechanical power; the power required 
to raise 550 pounds to the height of one foot in one 
second, or 33,000 pounds to that height in a minute. 
Horse-power involves ‘three elements: force, dis- 
tance and time. If we express the force in pounds 
and the distance ipassed through in feet, it is the 
solution. of and the meaning for the term ‘“‘foot 
pounds.” Hence a foot pound is a resistance equal 
to one pound moved one foot. 


James Watt, the inventor, was asked how many 
horses his engines would replace. To obtain data 
as to actual performance in continuous work, he 
experimented with powerful horses, :and found 
that one traveling 24% miles per hour, or 220 feet 
per minute, and harnessed to a rope leading over a 
pulley and down ‘a vertical shaft could haul up a 
weight averaging 100 pounds, equaling 22,000 foot 
pounds per minute. 

To give good measure, Watt increased the meas- 
urement by 50 per cent, thus getting the familiar 
unit of 33,000 minute foot pounds. 


HORSE-POWER, ELECTRIC :— 


A unit of electrical work, expressed in watts. It 
is equal to 746 watts. ‘To express the rate of doing 
electrical work in mechanical horse-power units, 
divide the number of watts by 746. 


ELECTRICAL CURRENT :— 


Current is the term applied to a flow of electricity 
through a conductor. 


DIRECT CURRENT :— 


Direct or continuous current flows constantly in 
one direction. Because \of this it cannot be sent 
any great distance, hence its use is limited to con- 
gested centers of thickly populated cities. It can 
be stored in storage batteries and so is advantageous 
for emergency use from such sources of supply. 


ALTERNATING CURRENT :— 


Alternating current flows first in one direction, 
then reverses, but in commercial circuits the al- 
ternations are so fast that the changes cannot be 
detected in an electric light bulb by the naked eye. 
Alternating current can be sent economically over 
comparatively great distances, and, therefore, is now 
used almost universally. 


12 


IMINLNT 


2 0428006 


mn 


THE PART ELECTRICITY PLAYED 


LH 





IN THE MAKING OF THIS BOOK 


The type—Set by an electric machine. 


The illustrations—Electricity furnished the bright 
artificial light, drying heat and current used in the 
engraving process. ds 


Electrotypes—Made by electrically depositing 
copper on wax moulds. 


The Printing—The presses were run by electricity. 


Folding—An electric folding machine saved hours 
of hand-labor. 


Binding—The machines that stitched the pages 
were run by electricity. 


Cutting—Electric paper cutters trimmed the 
pages to the proper size. 


How to Use This Bulletin: 


NOTE—There are four ends of speech, or in other 
words, four purposes for which men speak: first, to 
make an idea clear; second, to make an idea im- 
pressive; third, to make men believe something, 
that is, to convince; and, lastly, to lead men to action. 

Rhetoric, Oral English, and Current Topics 
Classes: Suggested topics for theme writing; Oral 
English and Current Topics discussions. 


1. To Make an Idea Clear: 


Describe the Electrical Equipment of this Com- 
munity. 


2. To Make an Idea Impressive: 
A—The New World Created by Electrical In- 
ventions. 


B—The Influence of Superpower or Inter- 
connection of Electric Transmission Lines on 
the United States. 


3. To Convince: 


Debate. Resolved: That Electricity Has Had 
a Greater Effect Upon Human Life Than Have 
the Railroads. 


4. To Secure Action: 
Make Our City the Best Electrically Equipped 
City in the State. 
Other Topics: 


1. An Electrically Equipped Home. 

2. Some New Uses for Electricity. 

3. A Short Story of Edison’s Life. . 

4. Possibilities and Limitations of Electricity 
Generated by Water Power. 

Debate: 

1. Large Central Station Systems Are Preferable 
to Many Smaller Plants. 

2. Thomas A. Edison Is 


Inventor. 


America’s Greatest 


